How to Optimize Your Work Van for Maximum Efficiency and Safety?
Whether you have your own business or you are a technician, your Work Van plays a major role. You greatly depend on it to get your task done for the day from commuting your tools, components and equipment to performing as a mobile office. Maintaining your work van is highly organised and well loaded is key to ensuring productivity. If your technicians could find their tools, equipment and supplies quite easy you can get the task done much more swiftly and effectively.
Here we discuss some tips and tricks on how to maintain and optimize your work van.
1. Set key Areas
Each work van will have two very separate spaces: the drivers area up in the front and the back side area of your work van. The back side area often comes into more focus, still it is a better idea to clearly mark what has been decided to keep in both the spaces. The back side area is where you can smartly place all your equipment, tools and supplies. But what about the front area? Most of the time, this is the space that gets dirty. Messy. You can create a rule to only place a very few required supplies and authoritative or administrative documents up in the front, which can be for example: invoices, user manuals, training manuals, installation guides, a flat rate cost sheet, technical service forms and laptop/tablet or other gadgets. Try to keep it neat and clean and free of rubbish all the time.
2. Build up, From Large to Small
When creating the best and most effective storage area in your Work Van, the initial task is to think about the magnitude of the items to be kept inside. You can arrange space to store huge items either on the floor or in the bottom racks of the van leaving space for tiny items up to the top portion. Placing huge equipment at the bottom level will aid you in maximizing the space. In addition, your back body will be grateful when it comes to situations of carrying heavy duty items.
3. Vertically Arrangement
Next thing is to organize the vertical space of your van by arranging the supplies vertically on the interior wall sides. The items can be sorted based on size, placing the smallest ones to the top. Shelves with bins that can be stacked on each other and storage containers are best for neatly arranging small items.
It’s also possible to fix a pegboard and hooks to keep medium-sized hand-held tools as well as power tools. Hey, did you take a look at the top? You have to think about hanging items that are light in weight for eg. hanging extension cords from the ceiling. This can be facilitated by hanging poles lengthwise of the van, ensuring to keep enough area for headspace.
4. Spot !
Apart from organizing things vertically in terms of size, you’ll need to make a plan on where each and every item should be placed. Place frequently required items close to the doors as they will be able to be accessed easily. For instance, fix a hook or rack close to the door for things that you’ll need throughout the day for your work such as tool belts. You can also store things that you use very less at the rear of your Work Van.
5. Use the Doors
Talking about items that are regularly used items, there’s no room for doubt on why you cannot utilise the interiors of your Work Van door in order to store some of the supplies. You can create storage space by utilising the maximum area available by placing the magnetized strips that can be used for hanging metal tools like hammers, pliers, plastic or fabric wardrobe organizers with in-built pockets that can store tiny and lightweight tools.
6. Consistency
By now, you would have made a clear plan of the type of storage system you require, don’t change anymore. If you have multiple Work Vans, we would advise you to follow the same plan for all the vehicles. This will be very much beneficial for technicians who would be using different vans and they would clearly know where each and everything is placed and arranged. Being consistent will also help you when you train new technicians and to ensure productivity is ensured always.
7. Light up
The next move to maximise the utility of Work Van is to include lights. Placing tap activated lamps inside your Work Van doors will aid you in making things visible and in finding what exactly you’re looking for be it day or night. As a matter of suggestion you also choose to have battery operated lights which will help you move easily from your van to the site.
8. Always Stack up
Allowing your Work Van inventory fully stocked up is the secret to keeping up productivity. There’s nothing more disturbing than reaching the work site or customer’s home and understanding that you missed what was required to perform the job. Hence it’s important to practice checking your required items often and updating the inventory as and when required. You can also make use of lists available online to swiftly and easily organize all the regularly purchased items for your Work Van.
Do you wish to have another professional tip? Here you go… You can use storage racks and containers with customised labels. You can also print item barcode labels from and perform a mobile scan to organize items when you are mobile and update to your online inventory app if you have one.
9. Think About Comfort & Safety
A happy and healthy team is very important for a business to flourish. For that, its good to have a little consideration for the wellbeing, safety and security of your team as it will have a very positive impact. For instance, the rough area of your Work Van’s floor can have a negative impact on your knees when trying to reach some tools on a regular basis. On the other hand, you have padded floor mats installed, it will be more comfortable and convenient for your knees when you lean and try to grab items from the top on a daily basis.
You can also fasten a hand truck close to the interior of your Work Van doors using the cargo straps. This will enhance the space and allow you to move easier with heavy tools and equipment to and from the vehicle.
10. Remain clutter-Free
It’s not that tough for your van interiors to become fully cluttered by the end of a day. The drill: dirt can get trapped in, wrappers can be tossed on to the floor after a snack or a lunch and material debris can be left uncleared on surfaces. Reducing the clutter and keeping your Work Van neat and clean will enhance your van’s space and will indirectly make you remain efficient. You can store trash bags or a small trash can as well as disinfecting wipes and a brush and duster to keep you van clean. A little effort daily will take you a long way!
Conclusion
Maintaining your Work Van neat and clean with enhanced storage options, and well-stacked, will not only contribute to the seamless working days, but it can also offer you a big impact on your professional life and business! How well do you maintain your work van? If you need help to organize your van, contact Storetogo for all your Van related queries.